2006.10.30: October 30, 2006: Headlines: COS - India: Presidents - Carter: Habitat for Humanity: 1960's: Monsters and Critics.com: Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1960s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India

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2006.10.30: October 30, 2006: Headlines: COS - India: Presidents - Carter: Habitat for Humanity: 1960's: Monsters and Critics.com: Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1960s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India

Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1960s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India

"Both my mother and my grandson were American Peace Corps volunteers. While my mother, a trained nurse, served as Peace Corps volunteer at Virkholi village near here working among leprosy victims, my grandson, my mother's great grandson, worked with the Peace Corps in South Africa," Carter said. 'We have great opportunity for people of all ages and religions in the US to volunteer in the American Peace Corps to represent the country and serve humanity.'

Caption: Former US President Jimmy Carter builds a house as part of the 23rd Jimmy Carter project in Patan Village, 100 kilometers (63 miles) south east of Mumbai, India, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006. 23rd Jimmy Carter Work Project will build 100 homes in a week for the underprivileged section of the society. (AP Photo/Rajesh Nirgude)

Lonavala (Maharashtra), Oct 30 (IANS) Former US President and Noble Peace laureate Jimmy Carter said he would like to be remembered for his efforts to broker global peace and championing of human rights.

'I have always been a promoter of global peace. When I was the US president I never had to talk of nuclear bombs or missiles. I worked between other nations for peace and human rights.'

The 48th US President (1977-81) was speaking to media during a break from helping out in the construction of House number 73 of the Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006, on the outskirts of this quaint hill resort some 100 km southeast of Mumbai.

It was near here at a village called Virkholi that Carter's mother, Lilian, worked as a nurse in the 1950s as a Peace Corps volunteer tending to leprosy patients.

Elaborating on his efforts for long-lasting global peace, the former US president said: 'As you might know that we did not enjoy any diplomatic relations with China for 35 years and I established diplomatic relations with China in 1979 as the first step towards lasting peace.'

Emphasising on the need for basic human rights, Carter said: 'I have always worked for basic human rights, a thing that all us should be concerned with. Freedom of speech, assembly and the basic rights to home, decent food, self-respect and economic rights are basic rights that every individual human being on the earth is entitled to. So I would say that I would be liked to be remembered for promoting peace and human rights,'

Asked when would Habitat for Humanity (HFH) and the Jimmy Carter Work Project's (JCWP) take their project for affordable and decent houses in China, the other major nation faced with an acute problem for housing, Carter said: 'We have a couple of small projects on in China. India and China have the greatest housing problems than any other country in the world.'

'However, in order to start a major project in China we have to get permission from the Chinese government. We are actively willing to participate in the Habitat's programme in partnership with China. You may see very soon Habitat's projects in China.'

Asked about his mother Lilian's role as a Peace Corps volunteers in Maharashtra way back in 1950s, the former US president recalled the Carter family's close ties with India.

'We have about 7,000 Peace Corps volunteers in the US today, who fan out into different parts of the globe and represent the United States of America.'

'Both my mother and my grandson were American Peace Corps volunteers. While my mother, a trained nurse, served as Peace Corps volunteer at Virkholi village near here working among leprosy victims, my grandson, my mother's great grandson, worked with the Peace Corps in South Africa,' Carter said.

'We have great opportunity for people of all ages and religions in the US to volunteer in the American Peace Corps to represent the country and serve humanity.'

Queried on the secret of his boundless energy and globetrotting ways at his age, the 82-year-old Noble Peace laureate said: 'I have a good wife (Rosalyn) who tells me what to do. The credit should go to my wife for that.'

'It is at the Carter Centre to which my wife and I devote most of our lives. The JCWP is held only for a week once every year; we are left with 51 other weeks. We have programmes going on in 65 nations on earth. Out of these 35 are in Africa alone. We come to Africa often.'

'Where there are civil wars (in Africa) we try to negotiate peace and help them with the problems. We also conduct agricultural projects, where we teach farmers and keep them away from the wages of war.'

On Sunday, Carter inaugurated a Habitat for Humanity project to build 100 one-storied houses for low income groups on a village near this hill resort. Over the next five days, some 4,000 volunteers from around the globe - belonging to the Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Work Project 2006 (JCWP)- will add final touches to the modern dwellings with basic amenities

Harris Wofford to speak at "PC History" series Senator Harris Wofford will be the speaker at the 4th Annual "Peace Corps History" series on November 16 sponsored by the University of Maryland at Baltimore County (UMBC) and the Maryland Returned Volunteers. Previous speakers in the series have included Jack Vaughn (Second Director of the Peace Corps), Scott Stossel (Biographer of Sargent Shriver), and C. Payne Lucas (President Emeritus of Africare). Details on the time and location of the event are available here.

Chris Dodd's Vision for the Peace CorpsSenator Chris Dodd (RPCV Dominican Republic) spoke at the ceremony for this year's Shriver Award and elaborated on issues he raised at Ron Tschetter's hearings. Dodd plans to introduce legislation that may include: setting aside a portion of Peace Corps' budget as seed money for demonstration projects and third goal activities (after adjusting the annual budget upward to accommodate the added expense), more volunteer input into Peace Corps operations, removing medical, healthcare and tax impediments that discourage older volunteers, providing more transparency in the medical screening and appeals process, a more comprehensive health safety net for recently-returned volunteers, and authorizing volunteers to accept, under certain circumstances, private donations to support their development projects. He plans to circulate draft legislation for review to members of the Peace Corps community and welcomes RPCV comments.

He served with honorOne year ago, Staff Sgt. Robert J. Paul (RPCV Kenya) carried on an ongoing dialog on this website on the military and the peace corps and his role as a member of a Civil Affairs Team in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have just received a report that Sargeant Paul has been killed by a car bomb in Kabul. Words cannot express our feeling of loss for this tremendous injury to the entire RPCV community. Most of us didn't know him personally but we knew him from his words. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends. He was one of ours and he served with honor.

Peace Corps' Screening and Medical ClearanceThe purpose of Peace Corps' screening and medical clearance process is to ensure safe accommodation for applicants and minimize undue risk exposure for volunteers to allow PCVS to complete their service without compromising their entry health status. To further these goals, PCOL has obtained a copy of the Peace Corps Screening Guidelines Manual through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and has posted it in the "Peace Corps Library." Applicants and Medical Professionals (especially those who have already served as volunteers) are urged to review the guidelines and leave their comments and suggestions. Then read the story of one RPCV's journey through medical screening and his suggestions for changes to the process.

The Peace Corps is "fashionable" againThe LA Times says that "the Peace Corps is booming again and "It's hard to know exactly what's behind the resurgence." PCOL Comment: Since the founding of the Peace Corps 45 years ago, Americans have answered Kennedy's call: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world: ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man." Over 182,000 have served. Another 200,000 have applied and been unable to serve because of lack of Congressional funding. The Peace Corps has never gone out of fashion. It's Congress that hasn't been keeping pace.

PCOL readership increases 100%Monthly readership on "Peace Corps Online" has increased in the past twelve months to 350,000 visitors - over eleven thousand every day - a 100% increase since this time last year. Thanks again, RPCVs and Friends of the Peace Corps, for making PCOL your source of information for the Peace Corps community. And thanks for supporting the Peace Corps Library and History of the Peace Corps. Stay tuned, the best is yet to come.

History of the Peace CorpsPCOL is proud to announce that Phase One of the "History of the Peace Corps" is now available online. This installment includes over 5,000 pages of primary source documents from the archives of the Peace Corps including every issue of "Peace Corps News," "Peace Corps Times," "Peace Corps Volunteer," "Action Update," and every annual report of the Peace Corps to Congress since 1961. "Ask Not" is an ongoing project. Read how you can help.

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Story Source: Monsters and Critics.com

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